Jason Roberts
Jason Roberts MBE was a part of the production line of high quality strikers that came through the club in the mid 90s to early 2000s, along with the likes of Nathan Ellington, Gareth Taylor, Bobby Zamora and Marcus Stewart. He is one of the most expensive players ever signed by Rovers, costing £250,000 when they picked him up from Wolverhampton Wanderers, but they more than recouped their outlay when he was sold to West Bromwich Albion two years later for £2,000,000. While at Rovers he averaged just under a goal every two games, and was joint top scorer with Jamie Cureton on 22 goals for the 1999-00 season. In all he played 78 games in the league, scoring 38 goals, but when The Gas failed to win promotion in 2000 he put in a transfer request, despite having two years still to run on his contract. In 2010 he was awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours list for his charity work in Grenada and the UK through the Jason Roberts Foundation. Career Jason, who is the nephew of former England footballer Cyril Regis, started playing his football on the non-league scene, turning out for Hayes from November 1995 until Wolves signed him for £250,000 in 1997. That was a very large outlay for a non-league player, but in spite of the fee he never played a single game for Wolves, instead being sent out on a couple of loan spells, and then being sold to Bristol Rovers. His first loan was to Torquay United in 1997 where he scored an impressive 6 goals in 14 games, before going to Bristol City in 1998 where he scored once in three games. He did have the opportunity to stay with City for longer, but instead opted to go and play international football for the nation of his father's birth, Grenada. After his two-year spell at Rovers between 1998 and 2000 he joined West Bromwich Albion, one of several teams who were vying for his signature. In four years with The Baggies he played 89 times and scored 24 goals, and was loaned out to Portsmouth towards the end of that spell. In 2004 he joined Wigan Athletic for an initial fee of £14,000,000, where he was reunited with former Bristol Rovers team mate Nathan Ellington. While at Wigan he was a member of the team that won promotion to the Premier League and he also played in the League Cup final before being signed by Blackburn Rovers in 2006 for an undisclosed fee. He spent longer with Blackburn than any other club in his career, and played more games for them than he did for any other team. He was signed by Reading on an 18-month contract during the January 2012 transfer window and he scored on his debut for The Royals on 28 January against Bristol City, one of his former clubs. Career stats Record against Rovers Jason has never played against Bristol Rovers in a competitive first team match. Category:Players Category:Forwards Category:Grenadan internationals Category:25 January Category:Players born in 1978 Category:Players who joined in 1998 Category:Hayes Category:Wolverhampton Wanderers Category:Torquay United Category:Bristol City Category:West Bromwich Albion Category:Portsmouth Category:Wigan Athletic Category:Blackburn Rovers Category:Reading